


Of Half Familiar Things

by LostGirl



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Adventure, Get Together, M/M, Mystery, Plot, Post Chosen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-10
Updated: 2007-06-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 21:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6537124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostGirl/pseuds/LostGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giles and Xander get caught up in something bigger than they realize.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Of Half Familiar Things  
>  **Author:** [](http://lostgirlslair.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lostgirlslair.livejournal.com/)**lostgirlslair**  
>  **Pairing:** Giles/Xander  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Summary:** Giles and Xander get caught up in something bigger than they realize.  
>  **Spoilers:** Set a few years post Chosen and post NFA.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** All things BtVS and AtS belong to Joss Whedon and various corporate entities. I am neither.
> 
> This is for the [Giles Round](http://community.livejournal.com/maleslashminis/63846.html) at [](http://maleslashminis.livejournal.com/profile)[**maleslashminis**](http://maleslashminis.livejournal.com/) and [](http://mireille719.livejournal.com/profile)[**mireille719**](http://mireille719.livejournal.com/) , whose requests are at the end of the fic. I hope you like, sweetie! Big, huge thanks to [](http://soft-princess.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://soft-princess.livejournal.com/)**soft_princess** , for all the support!

Xander hated the waiting, despite the relatively comfortable seats, and man did the Council really spring for seat-age.  The new Council library had couches and padded chairs at the long, institutional tables.  The lighting was better than Sunnydale High's had been, too.  Xander guessed that, when you basically devoted your life to reading, you knew what five hours researching the apocalypse in a hard, wooden chair did to a person's back.

Some of his frustration probably did come from the fact that he hadn't imagined his time in London being so . . . boring.

His assignment in Africa had been long and hard, in more ways than Xander wanted to think about.  He'd expected something more than Giles dragging him all over Watcher headquarters.  Not that Xander wanted a welcome home party, or anything, he wasn't coming home.  London was . . . Well, okay, so he did kind of think of London as home, even though he'd never stayed for more than a week.  It just felt something like home, like the center of his new life, and Buffy's and Willow's.  It felt like the place that held them together, pulled them back when they went too far.

 _Great.  And I came here to stop all the thinking._   Xander propped his elbows on his knees and laid his head in his hands, breathing in the scents of old books and cleaning supplies.  It actually found that smell kinda calming.  Giles had sworn it would only take twenty minutes, at most, and then they could get on with seeing all the tourist sights that Xander had been going on about.  Of course, that had been an hour ago.  Now, Xander was kinda afraid Giles had gotten _physically_ sucked into the books, instead of just mentally.

The library was quiet, too, in a way that the library in Sunnydale had never been.  When it was a room in a building filled with teenagers, there was only so much you could do to reduce the noise.  Even at night, when all the other kids were home or at the Bronze and Xander and Willow and Giles were the only people in the whole building, that place had seemed louder then this library.

He was almost afraid to breath too loud.  Xander passed another fifteen minutes drumming his hands against his thighs before he finally shot to his feet, apparently startling one of the watchers-in-training at the nearest table.  The kid startled so hard he dropped his book, staring at Xander with wide, frozen eyes.  Considering the kind of thing he was probably reading, Xander didn't really blame him.  The book thudded against the floor, the sound resounding in the stillness and space.  It echoed off the walls for what seemed forever, making Xander wince and glance around.  Yup, he was the center of attention.  Even the Council's librarian was giving him the eye.

Great.  What was it about libraries that turned him into a bumbling idiot, despite the fact that he hadn't been the kid in years?  Xander gave an apologetic smile-shrug and picked the kid's book up off the floor.  Xander remembered how it felt to be in the kid's place.  Well, kinda.  He remembered being seventeen and in way, way over his head.

Hoping to limit his opportunities for embarrassment, he went off to find Giles.

Giles' office was twice the size of the one he'd had in Sunnydale, but somehow Giles had still managed to fill up all the available space.  Despite the bookcases upon bookcases of tomes and texts and manuscripts just outside the door, Giles' office was littered with them.  They took up space in stacks on his desk, on two bookcases, on the floor beside the desk, and in boxes around the room.  As if Giles couldn't work unless he was surrounded by them.

Giles himself was hunched over his desk.  A bright desk lamp shining directly on the book he was reading and providing the only light in the whole room.  The one window was blocked by a bookcase.  Xander waited for a minute, thinking Giles would notice him, but Giles seemed totally absorbed in his reading.  Xander cleared his throat twice before Giles finally heard him and looked up.

"Oh, damn, Xander."  Giles sighed, giving an apologetic smile.  "I completely lost track of time."  A quick glance down at his watch had Giles shaking his head.

"Sorry," Xander said with a shrug.  "But, you can make it up to me by getting us both some lunch before we go out sightseeing.  And I reserve the right to refuse to go into the British Museum."

Giles snorted, but he closed his book, a good sign that he might actually let Xander drag him away.  "All right.  Thompson can look at this, and you'll have to leave again soon."

Desperately trying not to look at Giles' hands as the man straightened his desk, Xander turned his eyes to the one bookshelf not overflowing with texts.

It housed small things, more personal than the books.  There was a picture of him and Buffy and Willow, and a few other pictures of people he didn't know.  That seemed weird, thinking that Giles knew people outside of their little group.  Well, not that he knew people, everyone knew people.  Even Xander knew people, but they weren't picture people, weren't people Xander would really think to keep evidence of.  It was odd thinking that Giles knew, and liked, other people well enough that he kept pictures of them the same way he did Buffy and Willow and him.

Xander squinted at the faces in the new pictures, wondering if Giles had had them for a while or if they were really new.  New people he'd met since Sunnydale collapsed into the ground and they'd all had to rebuild everything.  Giles was head of the Council, but it was different than being Buffy's Watcher, less dangerous, more people to help out.  Giles might actually have time for a social life now.  Xander suddenly didn't like any of the seven people Giles had pictures of.  Well, except for the obviously married couple holding a baby.  They were okay.  Probably.

Other than pictures there were some other knick-knack type things.  Well, not what normal people thought of as knick-knacks; there weren't any collectors plates, or little kitten statues.  They were Watcher knick-knacks: little skulls, that statue of some Hindu god that Giles had had for as long as Xander had known him, crystals and rocks, and--Oh, hey, the little statue he'd sent Giles from Abuja.  That was actually pretty cool.  It wasn't much, and it wasn't old, but Giles kept it in his office.

Xander couldn't help his smile as he turned back to find Giles watching him with an eyebrow raised in question.

"Just lookin'," Xander said, shoving his hands in his pockets to illustrate that he hadn't touched anything.  "While you take _forever_ to get ready for fun.  You know, I don't think anyone is as hard to pull away from a book as you are.  Even Willow only takes minimal nudging."

Giles chuckled and Xander's smile widened as Giles led him out into the library proper.  "I am sorry, Xander.  It's just that I found a reference to something that might well be happening soon.  I need to stop in Thompson's office to make sure he'll take a look at it and then we can go have . . . fun."  He made a face when he said 'fun,' giving a feigned shudder.

Xander's laugh was way too loud, the sound echoing through the vast space.  Everyone looked at him, again, but this time Xander could really seem to care.  Giles was smiling.

\-----

"And don't think I didn't notice you sneaking in educational bits, either, pal."  Xander tried to glare, but suspected it was pretty ruined by the fact that he couldn't quit smiling.

And he'd really have to stop soon, because otherwise things he didn't want becoming obvious were going to just jump right up and hit Giles on the nose.  Right?  Giles was a smart guy.  He'd figure things out, sooner or later.

_Unless, you quit acting like a moron._

"I simply thought you'd be interested," Giles said, giving Xander a fake innocent look.

Xander was almost sad they had to stop for the day.  Well, no, he was glad they were stopping, because his feet were tired and, though he'd be ready for tomorrow, Xander had had about as much sightseeing as one person could take for a day.  But them stopping meant things would go back to how they had been.

Oh, Giles seemed happy enough to see him.  He'd picked him up from the airport the day before with a smile and a hug that almost gave Xander a heart attack, just because he hadn't really been expecting it.  Yesterday night had been boring.  Xander had talked about Africa, Giles had listened, and then . . . they'd seemed to just run out of things to say.  Well, that wasn't true.  Xander had still had some things he could have said, but actually saying them hadn't appeared anywhere on his itinerary and he planned to keep it that way.

Still, Giles had seemed distant and distracted all morning and then there had been the getting lost in books before they'd finally gotten moving.  For the past few hours, though, Giles had been fun, despite the educational bits.  He'd laughed and talked and been . . . normal, not the head of the Watcher's Council, not Xander's boss, just . . . Giles.  Now, Xander just knew they'd do the same thing they'd done last night.  Giles would pick up a book and Xander wouldn't even exist anymore.

There wasn't any way to drag things out, either.  It was getting dark and, even off a Hellmouth, sightseeing after the sun went down was a good way to get your throat ripped out.

"Xander?"  Xander's head jerked up as he realized Giles had been talking to him.  If the raised eyebrow was any indication, that wasn't the first time Giles had tried to get his attention.

"Sorry," Xander said, giving Giles a shrug and a smile.  "My mind wandered."

"Clearly," Giles said with a snort, though he didn't really seem annoyed.  In fact, he seemed reflective himself, now and . . . No, there was absolutely no reason for Giles to be nervous.  "Back to Africa?"

"What?  No, no reason to go there.  I'm ready for somewhere else.  Maybe somewhere with better weather?"  Xander nudged Giles with his elbow, grinning in the hope of holding on to the atmosphere a little longer.  "Hint, hint."

Giles laughed, shaking his head.  "You'll have to define 'better.'  I rather like the weather here."

"It's not bad," Xander said with a shrug.  It seemed like Giles had been bringing that up a lot; asking, without actually asking, where Xander was going to go next.  Xander opened his mouth to add that he wouldn't mind staying in London for a while, but the words never made it past his lips.

He felt the thing impact with his side, felt himself thrown into Giles, felt them both falling.  The impact with the ground was softer, but only because he landed on Giles.  Xander rolled off, stumbling to his feet, nowhere near as awkwardly as he'd have done just a year ago.  Giles scrambled up barely any slower--Just in time to grapple with the vampire that leapt at him.

Xander reached back for his stake, but the vampire who'd tackled them in the first place had already righted itself and it rushed at him.  It reached him first, slamming him back into a van.  Xander hit his head hard enough that his vision blurred for a second.  His heart pounded, fear and pain speeding the blood through his veins.  Xander had managed to wedge his forearm against the vampire's neck, but the ting was strong and seemed pretty determined.

Xander fumbled for his stake with his free hand, barely holding onto it when the vampire shook him.  He clung on, though, and pushed the stake up as soon as he had room.  It caught on his shirt, dug at his skin, but it was angled right.  For once he'd managed to aim something.  It sank in and Xander was showered with dust as the vampire that had been holding him disintegrated.

Shaking the dust from his hair and wiping it from his face, Xander turned, already moving to where he'd last seen Giles, in the street between the van and the next car.  He needn't have hurried, as Giles was just getting the dust of his clothes when Xander reached him.

"It's not even dark, yet!"  Xander found himself speaking without even realizing he was going to.  He reached out to brush the dust from Giles' jacket and swallowed hard when Giles reached out to do the same, his fingers brushing over Xander's chest.

"That's highly unusual," Giles said, his tone already fading into thoughtful, from which Xander might never retrieve him.

"Maybe they were trying to get out and eat before the Slayers came out."  Giles' hand froze on Xander's shoulder, then his fingers tightened and Xander couldn't think what he'd said to freak Giles out.  Well, okay, the thought of vampires planning ahead that way was a little scary, but not enough for the look of shock on Giles' face.

"I don't think that's it, Xander."  Giles' voice had gone low, and Xander realized Giles' eyes weren't thoughtfully unfocused.  Giles was staring at something over Xander's shoulder.

"Oh, God, it's bad, isn't it?"  Xander gripped his stake so hard he could feel his knuckles creak.  Now that they weren't surprised, he and Giles could take out three, maybe four vamps, so whatever was putting that look on Giles' face had to be worse.

Giles eyes flicked to him and Giles seemed to pull himself away from the sight.  "We'll run for the library," Giles tugged Xander along; his eyes whipping back to whatever was coming after them.  "It's not a public building."

It was impossible not to look back.  Xander cast a glance over his shoulder, stumbled, and then ran harder.  There were more than four vampires, more like ten, and a couple demons to boot.

"What is this?" Xander called as he followed Giles around a corner, hoping this was some shortcut to the library that Giles knew and not a choice made out of necessity.

"I don't know.  Any nest this large should have been taken care of, and the fact that they have demons working with them certainly does not bode well."

Giles led him through back alleys that flashed by too quickly for Xander to really see.  They emerged into a grassy square and Xander suddenly knew where he was.  The Council library was just across the street.  Giles grabbed his wrist when Xander made to glance over his shoulder.  Xander got the message.  He probably didn't want to know how man of the vampires had stayed with them.

The library came into sight around a clump of trees and Xander felt a spark of hope that they might actually make it.  Though both he and Giles were used to running, outrunning vampires wasn't an everyday occurrence.  Giles still held tight to his wrist, though they were running side by side.  They rushed onto the street in front of the library, deserted at almost all hours, and Xander's foot hit the curb of the sidewalk when one of the vampires caught them.

It slammed into Giles, threatening to take Xander down as well.  Xander pulled out the cross he always carried, thrusting it practically under the vampire's nose.  The thing reared back, but Xander had to press forward before the vampire let Giles go.  The other vampires were at the edge of the park, now, the demons lumbering along a bit behind them.  Xander grabbed Giles' hand, helping him to his feet even as Xander kept his eyes and cross firmly fixed on the vampire.  It watched Giles closely.  In fact, the way it was looking at Giles sent a chill down Xander's spine.

Maybe, in a vampire brain, taking out the lead Watcher meant taking out the Slayers, too.  That wasn't true, but most vampires weren't known for their planning skills.  Maybe it didn't realize that taking out Giles would be the quickest way to piss off enough Slayers to keep London vampire-free year round.

"We have to get inside," Giles said, and Xander heard the jingle of keys.  He'd have liked to look back, to check Giles' progress getting the library's security door open, but Giles was on his left side and Xander couldn't afford to take his eye off the vampire in front of him.  He backed up carefully, holding the cross out before him.  He could practically see the vampire's mind working as it tried to figure out how to get around them, how to get the cross away from him.  And there were more coming.

"You might want to hurry," he said, his voice breathless and edging toward panic.

The only reply Xander got was the click of a lock and Giles grabbing his shoulder, hauling him inside.  The vampire stopped just on the other side of the door, but the others were still coming, and so were the demons.

"Oh, good, I was right," Giles muttered and Xander shot him a glare.

"You weren't sure they couldn't get in?"

"Well, reasonably sure.  It's just never been tested before.  The library was much closer than my flat."

"Yeah, but . . . That's not gonna work for the demons, is it?"

"No."  Giles and Xander shared a quick look before Xander slammed the emergency door shut.  He and Giles started barricading it with everything they could find, even the bookcases.  Though they were heavy and sturdy, Xander wasn't happy with the setup until he'd managed to wedge one bookcase between the barricade and a row of bookshelves, all filled with books.  He stood back, nodding to himself, but before he could pat himself on the back, Giles pointed toward the front of the library.

"We've got another door and three windows to take care of."  Giles took off straight for the front door, Xander following with only a glance back at the door they'd just, hopefully, sealed.

"What about the offices?"  He came to a stop so quick that his shoes squeaked against the polished library floor.  In his mind, Xander could see the layout of Giles' office all over again, a heavy bookcase positioned in front of a window.

"Taken care of, for the most part.  We should block off the hall that leads from the offices to the library, though, just in case things don't work out as planned."

"Planned?" Xander hated that he squeaked when he said it, but even after everything that he'd gone through, here he was, trapped in a library with Giles.  It was so much like old times that Xander was momentarily homesick.

_Oh, yeah, that's a sane reaction._

"All the Council buildings are prepared for attack, or, at least, we hope they are." Giles said as he reached the front doors and pulled a thick metal beam out of a nearby broom closet.  "Help me get this through the handles.  There's a niche in the wall for it."

Xander gaped, but for only a heartbeat before he moved to help Giles.  The beam was heavy enough, and solid enough, that might just hold for a little while, but those demons were pretty damn big.

"We're going to have to do more than this," Xander said as he slid the beam into place.

Giles nodded toward the couches and chairs that Xander had been examining earlier.  "Those will go in front of this door.  We'll have to work together."

"Shouldn't we call someone?"

"Getting the doors taken care of is more important.  If those demons get in, I don't think it's going to matter much to us if a dozen Slayers are on their way."

Not about to argue with that, Xander put his back into helping Giles get a particularly heavy couch in front of the doors.  "What are these things made of, lead?"

"No, the lead sofas were right out of our budget."

Xander blinked, his panicky mind at first too caught up in images of the demons tearing them apart to realize that Giles had been joking.  Then Giles gave a small, weak smile and Xander felt laughter welling up in his throat.

_Hello, hysteria, my old friend._

The pounding started then, loud enough to send echoes spiraling up to the high ceilings and bouncing off every wall.  Xander covered his ears, looking toward the emergency door.  The things they'd piled in front of it were shaking.  The row of shelves against which Xander had jammed a bookcase shuddered with each blow.

"Oh, God.  You're sure those preparations in the offices will hold?"  Xander couldn't tear his eyes away from the shaking barricade in front of the doors.

"Fairly."  Giles didn't sound very confident and Xander finally turned to look at him.  Giles looked just like Xander felt.  They turned together, both running toward the door that separated the offices from the library.

There was another bar, just as thick as the one they'd used to bar the front doors.  The two of them slid it into place and then dragged a few armchairs over to reinforce it.

"What exactly are these preparations?"  Xander was panting, trying to gulp in enough air to calm his frantically beating heart.  The smell of the library, of old books and cleaning agents, had been comforting that morning, but just then it reminded him of less than comforting nights spent beating demons back into the pits of hell.

"Bars, bookcases that are fastened against the wall, some small magic."

"Just small?  I mean, I know the mojo isn't a toy, but don't you think the Council can do better than 'small'?"

"Anything more would draw notice from the very things we're hoping to keep out," Giles said, shoving the last armchair into place.  "There.  I'll call Andrew, you begin barricading the--" a particularly large thump made both of them flinch.  Xander's gaze spun back to the emergency door, but the barricades seemed still solidly in place.  Another thump, louder than the last, told him that it wasn't the emergency door the demons were pounding.

"What is that?" He asked as the echoes died away, his voice barely a whisper.  Another thump and Xander found himself looking up.  The sound was coming from the roof.  Close enough to 'just above their heads' that Xander had a flash of one of those huge demons dropping down on them.

"I don't think they can get through that way."  It was only when Giles said that that Xander realized he'd spoken his fears aloud.  Of course, given that Giles, too, was staring up at the ceiling, Xander didn't feel all that reassured.  Then Giles continued, and things got worse.  "There is a skylight, but . . . I don't think they can get to it."

"Okay."  Xander swallowed hard.  "Did these preparations of yours include . . . Oh, a missile launcher, or . . . or maybe a flamethrower?"

"Uh, no . . . N-not as such, but, uh . . . We have crossbows, swords, and spears.  And a few tranquilizer guns."  Giles and Xander shared a look.  Giles turned toward another broom closet, this one with a heavy lock.

"Well, I guess I should be glad you have the key," Xander said with a weak laugh.

"Go call Andrew.  I'll get the weapons out and then we'll deal with the windows.  I think they're too small for those things anyway."

Xander didn't waste any time.  He scrambled to the check in desk and slid over the counter.  He even managed to land on his feet and barely stumbled at all as he grabbed up the receiver.

There was no dial tone.

"Uh, Giles?  Did the Council pay its phone bill?"

Giles glanced over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised until he saw Xander put the receiver down.

"They must have done something to the phone lines."  Giles had already turned back to the closet, but not before Xander saw the worry on his face.

"I gotta say, I'm not liking this whole planning thing," Xander said, coming around the checkout desk and taking the crossbow and axe that Giles held out to him.  "These guys are way too organized for your average street vamps."

"I have to agree," Giles said, hooking a bag of various weapons over his arm and then taking the crossbow from Xander.  "Normal vampires don't work with demons, and they aren't so determined to get to specific prey."  Giles looked up, meeting Xander's gaze.  "I think they're after me.  If we split up--"

"Yeah.  That's not gonna happen."  Xander even managed to smile as he smacked Giles' arm, managed not to show how the very idea sent a chill down his spine.  He'd only just gotten to see Giles again, after . . . after a lot of thinking.  "So, what do we do?  We're armed, but those--"

There was another thump on the roof, but then another sound, like grinding.  Xander's head snapped up, convinced he'd see the skylight overhead, and a demon looking through it.  He could see the skylight, but just the edge of it.  It was higher up than the rest of the ceiling and, if he squinted, Xander thought he could make out bars, but no demons.  The grinding sound grew louder, and it suddenly hit Xander what the sound reminded him of.  Stone grinding against stone.

"I think it's sliding," Giles said, his eyes fixed on the crossbow he was loading.  "Trying to cling on with its claws."  As soon as Giles mentioned them, Xander got a visual of just what kind of claws they were talking about.  Big ones.

"Well, that's at least a delay, but what are we going to do?"

The click of the crossbow seemed loud in the sudden silence.  Whether the demon had been sliding down the roof or not, it wasn't anymore.  "We hide.  There's little else we can do.  The vampires will have to leave to get to ground before dawn; the demons can't stay out in public.  I don't they're willing to draw that much attention."  Giles met his gaze again.  Xander saw his own fear echoed in Giles' eyes, but there was more than that, something else Xander couldn't quite put a name to.

Xander wanted to say so many things, most of them things he'd sworn to himself he'd never, ever say to Giles.  But, for once, when he opened his mouth, it wasn't any of those things that came tumbling out.  "We can't just wait here until tomorrow morning.  They're bound to get in before then."

"Do you have another plan?"  When Xander shook his head, Giles shrugged.  "Then until you think of one, I'm rather in favor of mine."

Giles nodded toward the back of the library, leading Xander into the dimmer recesses.  "What's back here?"

"A first-aid kit," Giles said, pulling said kit out from under one of the tables.  Xander wondered what the training Watchers thought of all this.  He was fairly sure they were taught where all this stuff was.  Did it wig them out to know there was a giant first-aid kit under one of the study tables?  Xander supposed he'd gotten used to things like that, living on the Hellmouth.  Giles had made sure they all knew where the first-aid kit was in his office in Sunnydale.  They all knew where the weapons were.

Pounding began on both the front door and the emergency door and Xander jumped, flattening himself against the wall.  Giles hadn't faired much better, the sudden sound making him fumble the butterfly bandages he'd gotten and the large bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"What's all that for?" Xander asked, hoping Giles wasn't stocking up in case of future injury.

Giles glanced up at him with an expression that said he wasn't sure Xander was actually paying attention.  It was familiar and oddly reassuring.  Then Giles' eyes shifted down and he nodded slightly.

Xander looked and his grip on his axe tightened.  A line of blood showed on his shirt, and Xander almost freaked until he remembered the stake and the earlier vampire.  Funny, it hadn't really started hurting until Giles drew his attention to it.

"Damn.  I forgot about it."  Xander lifted up the edge of his shirt, hissing slightly when it stuck wetly to the scrape.  He couldn't tell from his angle, but he didn't think it was too bad.  It was bleeding though, and there could be splinters, considering.  "Is it bad?"

Giles didn't say anything.  In fact, he seemed extremely intent on the first-aid kit.  The sound of shattering glass had Xander whirling around, bringing his axe up.  "I think they found the windows."

"They're too big to get through them," Giles said, dumping the bandages and things into the weapons bag and picking up his crossbow.  "We need to get to the basement."

"What if they call in some smaller demons to climb through the windows?"  Xander knew how unlikely that sounded, but his brain created perfect pictures of just that thing happening and his mouth had taken off without him.  Apparently, Africa hadn't changed him as much as he'd thought.

"They won't, but they are going to get in eventually, and we need to keep them at bay as long as possible."

"Giles?  I don't think just you and me can hold off a dozen baddies.  Okay, so maybe with the right weaponry and some time, but they have more of those things than we do."

Giles nodded, glancing over Xander's shoulder toward the windows as another shattering sound ripped through the library.  "But some of the Slayers patrol Council grounds.  We don't have to hold them off until morning, just until someone sees what's going on.  With all the noise they're making, that shouldn't be too long.  Come on."

Xander opened his mouth to ask another question, but Giles shot him a mild glare and Xander decided now wasn't the best time.  Maybe once they were in the basement, if his brain still thought it was a question that needed an answer.

He followed Giles down a dim hallway, past door after door that led places he hadn't even seen yet; maybe tomorrow, if they lived that long, Giles would give him the grand tour.

Giles opened the door at the end of the hall and fumbled inside it for a light switch.  The light that came on was red and it took Xander a few moments to get used to it.  The basement wasn't what Xander had expected.  To start with, it had tunnels running off of it in every direction.

"Uh, Giles?  Are these things safe?"  Xander peered at one dark tunnel, almost afraid that another of those demons was going to jump out at them.

"They're all sealed with very thick concrete and steel supports," Giles said, nodding down one of the tunnels.  "Nothing can get in.  Unfortunately, we can't get out, either, but those vampires would need far more complex equipment to get through into these tunnels."

"Uh, you mean like the team of vampires that Spike used to get to the Gem of Amara?"  Xander could feel his forehead furrowing in a worried frown.  Giles actually went white for a heartbeat before he shook his head.

"They'd have had to know we'd run here.  We're safe."  He said the last bit more forcefully, but both of them kept eyeing the darkness as they moved down the tunnel Giles had indicated.

At the end of it there were two rows of cages, all lit with the same red light.  Xander hadn't even seen them further up the tunnel, the thing twisted and turned and the light didn't really shine so much as glow kinda malevolently.  Xander hadn't expected to find that under the library.  "What are these for?"

"Whatever we need to lock up.  We haven't actually used them yet, but they'd be a good place for werewolves and such."

"So what's the plan?" Xander asked as Giles walked into the last cage on one side.  He couldn't quite bring himself to follow.  The thought of being even more trapped wasn't sitting well with him.

"Well, first I should look at your . . ." Giles motioned toward his scrape and Xander nodded.  That was good.  Taking care of wounds was definitely a step in the right direction.  "Then, we attempt to come up with a plan."

"Well, at least we're not just going to be sitting here waiting," Xander mumbled.  Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he watched as Giles pulled the bandages and things out of the weapons bag.

"You, uh, should sit down, and, uh, lift up your shirt so that I can get to it."  Giles still hadn't looked at him.

Taking a deep breath, Xander sat on the concrete bench someone had anchored to the wall and floor.  He didn't think even a werewolf could get it free, although maybe one of those demons upstairs could.  He could still hear the faint pounding at the door, and it was almost reassuring.  They hadn't gotten in, yet, at least.

Of course, his mind could also just be searching for things to think about other than what Giles was soon going to be doing.  Hanging out with Giles was fine; it wasn't hard most of the time.  He'd just wanted to see Giles again, to see if his theory was right, and . . . Yeah, it had been.  He had the hots for Giles, he could accept that.  God knew it wasn't the first time he'd labored under an unrequited crush.  But, this was just a little different.  Buffy hadn't ever patched him up, tended to his wounds, had to kneel between his knees to get to . . . Oh, yeah, his brain needed to shut up.

Xander sucked in a breath as Giles used a cotton swab and the alcohol to clean off the worst of the blood.  Giles sent him a worried glance and Xander did his best at a reassuring smile.  He didn't think he'd done a very good job, at least not if he judged by Giles' worried expression.

"It doesn't look too bad," Giles said, "but there are certainly several splinters.  You're lucky you didn't puncture anything."

"Just the skin," Xander tried to joke, but his tone came out all wrong.  Squeaky, too high.  "It's cold," he said in reply to Giles' questioning glance.

It was, but Xander certainly wasn't and he knew he was going to have to find something else to think about if--the pounding upstairs stopped.  There was a crash, and Xander startled, suddenly a lot less worried about the possibility of getting hard and Giles' complete inability to _not_ notice.

Giles had stopped wiping away the blood.  They'd both straightened, gone still, listening.  There was no further sound that Xander could hear, but was that good or bad?  Would the demons start wrecking the place if they'd gotten in?  Or would they be quiet, looking for Giles and Xander and entirely unconcerned about everything else?

"What do you think that was?" Xander whispered, looking down at Giles to find Giles looking up at him.

"Could have been anything.  They might have simply gotten into the offices."  Giles held his gaze for a long moment, and then he ducked his head, looking back at the scrape across Xander's belly.  "This, uh, really isn't too bad.  It only needs a few bandages."

"That's good," Xander said, when what he was actually thinking was closer to, 'can we go back to worrying about demons now?'  Giles' fingertips slid along the length of the scrape, checking for more splinters, Xander guessed, but it felt . . . It felt like something it was never going to be and Xander's throat was starting to get tight, not to mention regions a bit lower and a lot more embarrassing.

"I may--" Giles cleared his throat, shaking his head as if shaking off some thought or another.  "I may have an idea."

Xander looked down, trying not to squeak when he asked, "What?"

"Those demons, they're a breed of Shelmarintiana: strong, but of less than middling intelligence.  They feed on blood and have a very keen sense of smell."

Though he was glad for the distraction, Xander still didn't see where Giles was going with this.  "Right, so . . . We what?  Bake them a blood birthday cake and run while they're distracted?"

Giles shrugged and nodded his head, a gesture that meant something like 'Yes, but I it sounds insane when you say it.'  "Actually, I was thinking to use your shirt as bait.  If they get into the basement, they'll follow the smell of blood.  Some of these tunnels go on further before the seal and if your shirt is there . . ."

Xander blinked, shook his head, and then blinked again.  "You want me to take off my shirt?"  Giles' eyes went wide.  Great.  Apparently, his brain had listened to everything Giles had said, and filtered it down to that.  "I mean, do you really think that little bit of blood is going to draw them?  We're full of the stuff."

"Yes, but I'm thinking the rubbing alcohol will take care of that.  It should mask the smell."  Giles leaned back on his heels, away from Xander, as he began putting the bandages away.  He seemed distracted, but that was probably Xander projecting.  Giles was distracted by things like big scary demons, whereas Xander was still tied up in the 'shirtless with Giles' bit.

_Do not say anything about being tied up and shirtless with Giles.  Do not.  Do not.  Do not._

"So, we run, after they've gone down the tunnel, but what about the vampires outside?"

_Good brain._

"The vampires will have to have split up, if they plan to watch all the entrances.  We should be able to-to take out whatever we find.  The Slayer's dormitory isn't far from here and there are several girls staying there."

"So, you're taking me to the Slayer's dormitory?  Do you have _any_ idea how many times back in Sunnydale I dreamed of . . . Never mind."

Giles raised another eyebrow at him, but there was humor in his eyes and Xander couldn't help but smile.  Giles didn't need to know that those dreams sometimes ended before the naked Slayers even came into it.

"Right.  Is that better?"  Giles motioned to his scrape, but didn't look away from the weapons bag.

"I'm not bleeding anymore, that's got to be good.  Or, at least, less bad."

"Good."  Giles stood up, finally looking at Xander.  For a heartbeat, Xander saw something pass over his face, some emotion that he couldn't name.  Then Giles looked as if he might say something.  He opened his mouth, only to close it with a shrug a heartbeat later.  "We'd best get moving.  We don't know when those demons might--"

The banging began again up in the library.  The sound was so loud it brought Xander to his feet.  "Okay, I'm guessing they've either gotten reinforcements, or . . ."

"Or they're in the offices and trying to get past our barricade.  We'd better hurry, that door isn't as strong."

"Oh, great."  Xander could feel his heart hammering again.  It had calmed down there for a while, but that sound . . .  "Er, what do we do?"

"I'm going to take your shirt down one of the tunnels.  While I'm gone you'll need to put some of the rubbing alcohol on your clothing."  Giles nodded to Xander's jeans, the only clothing Xander actually had left, if you didn't count his feet.

"Right.  Why are you the one taking my shirt?  I mean, it is my shirt."  Xander stripped out of his shirt and handed it over, trying to cover himself a little without looking as if he were trying to cover himself.  It was stupid and he knew it, but he couldn't seem to get over it.

"Because I know which tunnels go the furthest?"  Giles did his best to smile, but it wasn't all that reassuring.  "Don't worry, I shouldn't be long."  Giles grabbed two flashlights out of the weapons bag and handed one to Xander before he took off down the tunnels and Xander was left to wait.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't long before he couldn't stand the smell of any more rubbing alcohol.  Of course, the fact that he was covered in it didn't help.  He'd left about half the bottle for Giles to use, but Giles still wasn't back.  Starting to worry, with the constant pounding making his headache, Xander ducked his head out of the cage, peering off into darkness.

Though tempted to shine his flashlight down the tunnel, hopefully catch a glance of Giles, Xander couldn't shake the thought that if he did that, he'd actually light up a demon come to eat him alive.  It was probably all those horror movies.

When Giles wasn't back in another ten minutes, Xander finally made up his mind.  He snatched up the flashlight, tucked the rubbing alcohol into his back pocket, and gripped the axe hard.  Giles had taken his crossbow, thankfully, so Xander didn't have to find a way to carry that.  He decided to leave the bag of weapons after he'd rescued a few stakes from it.

He tried to be quiet, despite the fact that he doubted anything could hear him over the banging from upstairs.  It was probably louder inside the library than out, but if anyone had actually lived around here, the police would have been called already.

"Stupid library, cut off from everything."  Despite his grumbling, Xander knew that the headquarters wasn't all that far away.  There was a chance, if they could distract the demons long enough and not draw the attention of too many vampires, that they could make it there.  Or, at least, he clung to that thought as he made his way toward the mouth of the tunnel.  He couldn't just sit still, knowing that Giles was out there and the demons . . . Well, they were still banging away at the doors, but he didn't know that was the demons.  Maybe the vampires had started doing it, too, and damn it, there were just too many things to worry about.

He kept his flashlight trained on the floor, just to let him see where he was walking.  The light probably made him stand out.  Xander new he should turn it off, possibly, he should even go back to the damn cages, but he couldn't just leave Giles out here alone.  Besides, sitting there waiting might just make his head explode.

Xander was so busy looking where he put his feet that he didn’t notice a shadow moving further up the tunnel.  When he did glanced up, it darted at him, and Xander opened his mouth to scream--more a manly shout, really--when a hand closed over it.

Xander dropped his axe, knowing it wouldn't do him much good this close up.  He raised his hands to fight as the shadow pushed him against the nearest wall and nearly socked Giles in the jaw with the flashlight before he heard the other man whisper.  "Xander, stop, it's me."

Xander froze and then dropped his hands.  He tried to say, 'What the hell?', but it came out more along the lines of, "Mut da ell?"

"Shh.  There's a demon down here.  I couldn't get down the tunnel."  Giles spoke close to Xander's ear, his breath brushing along Xander's neck.

_Mortal danger, here!_ Xander told parts of himself.  Giles had pressed against him, to push him against the wall and--Xander now realized--into the shadows.  It was really not helping Xander's concentration, but some of what Giles had said had broken through.

"You mean it can smell us?"  Xander didn't try to pull away, didn't move at all, but it wasn't because he was afraid of being noticed.  Oh, he was afraid of being noticed, but he wasn't at all unhappy with the position Giles had put them in.

"I don't know.  There may well be enough alcohol on your clothes to hide us both, but . . . I don't know.  There are no detailed studies of this breed."

"Great.  The one time Watcher research falls short."

Giles nodded, Xander could feel Giles' chin bumping his shoulder, but even with Giles so close he could only make out the barest outline of Giles' face.  Xander remembered that their legs were probably lit up like Christmas trees and flicked off the flashlight.

There was a sound, something like a grunt and snort smashed together at a high rate of collision.  Giles went stiff against him and Xander had to bite his lip to keep from making any noise.  He wanted to ask if it had seen them, since Giles was the only one with even a partial view of the thing.

"I think it's moving off down one of the tunnels," Giles whispered.  Xander's shudder had little to do with the demon.

_Priorities, please!_

Several moments passed in tense silence with Giles pressing him against the wall.  Xander strained his ears, listening for any sound he could make out over the pounding that was still going on upstairs.  At least the demons didn't seem particularly good at cooperation, not if one was still trapped upstairs while the other had made it all the way to the basement.

"Well?" he finally asked, voice hoarse with tension.

"Soon.  We can't run too soon, or . . ."

Xander nodded to show he'd heard.  Giles seemed to realize that he was still pressing Xander against the wall and backed off a little.  Not a lot, and Xander thought it was probably because of the rubbing alcohol and Giles not wanting to stand out like a steak dinner.

Then Xander glanced up and found Giles watching him.  Their gazes met and, for a heartbeat, Xander felt it down to his toes.  His breathing sped, his lips parting.  He didn't even mean to lean forward, but whatever part of his subconscious had been lusting after Giles since high school had taken over.

Xander wasn't the only one, apparently.  Giles leaned in, closing the distance between them in a quick swoop.  The kiss was hard, almost desperate.  Xander clutched at the front of Giles' shirt, trying to pull him closer, trying to feel Giles pressed against him like before.  Giles groaned softly into the kiss, his fingers digging into Xander's upper arms with the force of his grip.

The pounding upstairs stopped.  Xander took a moment to notice it, because it had apparently startled Giles into pulling away.

Xander knew he must look startled, but they'd been right in the middle of something and . . . Damn those demons!  Xander was starting to feel more pissed off than scared.  Usually, that was a good thing, but with Giles staring at him with wide, confused eyes, it seemed a lot less important.

"Damn it, Xander, I'm sorry, I . . ." Giles glanced around the cavern mouth as he spoke, and Xander thought he was mostly doing it so he didn't have to look him in the eye.  "We have to go."

Giles tugged on his arm, but Xander didn't move quickly enough.  Giles tugged on him again, turning back.  "Now."

The steel in Giles' voice did it.  There were other, better, times to talk about the fact that they'd just kissed.  Really, there were.  Giles' hand stayed gripped tight on Xander's forearm as they ran.  The stairs faced away from the tunnel they'd been hiding in and Xander used the turn as an opportunity to scan the basement.

_Crap._   There was a shadow in one of the tunnels, a silhouette against the red light, and it was coming closer.

Xander picked up his pace.  He and Giles exploded out into the library and there was another of those loud grunt-snorts from behind them.  Xander wasn't sure what that meant, but he definitely did not want to hang around long enough to find out.

Giles dragged him toward the door to the offices.  It had been smashed open, their barricade materials scattered and broken.  There were tipped shelves and torn books, but the other barricades seemed intact.

_Nope, definitely not great with the cooperation._

They ran into the hallway, heading toward Giles' office.  At least, that's where Xander thought they were heading.  At the last turn, Giles went in the opposite direction.

"The only door into this part of the library is this way.  It had to have come in here."

Xander didn't bother mentioning that something that big might have just busted through the bars and magic on the windows.  If that was the case it would take them forever to find where it had come in and he was definitely on the side of getting out being easy.

They were in luck.  Mostly.  A vampire jumped out at them as they rushed out into the night air, but Xander had been ready for that.  It reached for Giles and he reached around Giles, pushing his stake in as close to the heart as he could.

It was close enough.  Giles stumbled through a cloud of vampire dust and then they were running again.  The vampire hadn't even had time for a dying shout.  The two of them raced away, into the darkness.  Xander could only hope they hadn't been seen, that the vampires and the demons still thought they were inside the library.

There was no way he and Giles could outrun them over open ground.  There wasn't too much time to think about it, of course.  Where he put his feet and how far ahead or behind him Giles was took priority.  He couldn't afford to look back, but he kept listening.

It seemed like years before the Slayers' dorms came into sight.  Giles was starting to flag, Xander thought his heart might burst if he had to go much farther, but adrenaline kept them moving.  At least, Xander knew that was the only thing carrying him to the door.

It was locked.  Xander pounded with the stake he hadn't let go of, glancing over his shoulder to see if they'd been followed.  There was no sign of the vampires or the demons, but until he and Giles were inside and surrounded by Slayers, Xander wasn't going to feel any better at all.

A girl Xander didn't know answered the door.  She took one look at them and stepped out of the way.  Xander and Giles stumbled inside, both of them panting.

"Get . . . Get the girls together," Giles panted out as he and Xander both collapsed on a bench in the entryway.

The girl looked as if she was going to say something, but apparently decided not to.  She turned and ran up the stairs, shouting names Xander didn't recognize.  Only a few of the girls he'd located had come to London.

The girl's shouts faded into silence, and Xander realized that he was again alone with Giles.  Alone with Giles and not in imminent danger of having his head ripped off.  The air suddenly felt stale in his lungs.  He had no idea what he was going to say to Giles when that area of conversation came up.  They'd kissed; Giles hadn't seemed all that impressed.  Of course, there had been a demon right around the corner.  That kind of thing was known to ruin moments, right?

_Oh, God, what did I do?_   He was suddenly having a little more trouble pulling in each breath.

"Xander, I, uh . . . I wanted to-to talk about . . ."

Xander stiffened, unwilling to turn his head and look at Giles because he had no idea what he was going to see on his face.  

"Uh, I know this isn't the best time, but--"

"Mr. Giles?  What happened?"  That came from Rona, who ran into the room from somewhere else in the dorm.  "And Xander.  Are you two all right?"

"There were, uh, several vampires," Giles began and Xander finally glanced over at him, wondering what he'd been about to say.

"Don't forget the demons.  There were demons, too."  Xander tuned out the rest of the explanation.  Strangely, he felt the need to walk, or maybe just to be away from Giles.  He may have been jumping the gun, but he didn't see that whole kiss ending well when Giles couldn't even get words out.

"Hey?" Xander called up the stairs, letting the girls know he was coming up.  "Does anybody have a shirt that might fit me?"  Two of the girls stopped in their downward rush and one of them went to get a sweatshirt she'd brought from home.  Her brother's apparently.  Xander gave her a grateful smile, even though the thing was at least a size too small.  Anything was better than being half-naked just then.

He got back to the entryway just in time to hear the end of their story.  Giles had, of course, cut out the kiss, Xander hadn't really expected him to include it.  Still, there was something about hearing the edited version of events that made his stomach clench.  He was not looking forward to that talk, but he could take it.  Giles would say it was a mistake, that it had just been the moment, and the thought of their impending death and Xander would nod and smile and say he understood.

And he did, kinda.  Thinking you could be eaten by a hulking demon at any moment did make people do strange things.  Maybe he could even bluff that it had only been that for him, too.  He might not lose any face at all, except for the fact that Giles was never going to be the same around him again.

Even then, when Xander came down the stairs and Giles looked up and their gazes met.  Xander could see how nervous it made Giles, how Giles' eyes shifted away and how he stumbled over what he was saying.  Great.

"So, why would they do that?" Charlain was the one to ask.  She was one of the few that Xander knew, though he hadn't been the Watcher that located her.  She was younger than the others, but whip-smart.  "You always hear that vampires and demons don't work together unless they've got one heck of an incentive.  Why is killing you so great?"  She seemed to realize what she'd said then.  "Er, not that you're not great, Mr. Giles.  I'm sure any vampire would be proud to kill you, and . . . I've derailed again, haven't I?"

Xander couldn't help but smile at that.  Even Giles gave a weak grin.  "It's fine," he said.  "You're quite right.  Coming after me isn't something to bring the species together."

"Could they have been after Xander?" Rona asked, though she looked doubtful.  Xander couldn't blame her.  He hadn't made many friends over the last few years, but he hadn't made tons of enemies either, and especially not ones that had the influence to reach up to London.

"No," Xander said, "There's no way I'm _that_ unpopular."

"So why?" asked another girl whose name Xander didn't know.  "It sounds like they had to have a reason."

"I don't know why, yet," Giles said, standing up and putting on his imposing face.  "Right now, we need to go back and make sure they don't get another chance.  We'll need a few more people, so Rona call Faith.  If you can't get in touch with her, go down the list until you find at least one experienced person and tell them to get here right away."

Rona nodded and headed off toward the kitchen and Giles told the other girls to start gathering weapons.  Xander was amazed at how quickly the room cleared, at how quickly it was just him and Giles.

They looked at each other for several moments before Xander started to speak.  He wasn't even sure what he was going to say, but it would probably be a lie.  Then he shut his mouth again, unable to come up with anything.

"I should call Thompson," Giles finally said, looking away.

"Who?" Xander blinked, several irrational, and kinda of jealous-making, theories running through his head.

"Thompson, the man we gave that book to this morning?  He's a specialist in cross-species interaction.  It's my hope he can shed some light on this."

"You think they're related?"  Xander couldn't think of anything else to ask, anything else to say, especially not when they could be interrupted by a gaggle of teenagers at any moment.

"The convergence I read about earlier . . ." Giles trailed off, cast a look at Xander that Xander couldn't even begin to interpret.  "I should go call him."

"Right."  Xander watched Giles go, but couldn't think of a single thing to say to stop him.  Maybe it didn't really matter just then, not when there were vampires and demons running about trying to tear people apart, but Xander wished he could think of _something_.

He kept busy helping the girls get the weapons ready.  Rona had gotten in touch with Faith, who was hauling ass over to the dorm and really should be there soon.  Giles was still trying to get in touch with this Thompson guy.  He was getting worried, too.  Xander could see it in the way he fidgeted with his glasses, the way he paused before dialing the number for the tenth time.

"All right, there's been a slight change of plans," Giles said and Xander looked up as Giles walked into the room.  "You girls are going to go with Faith, when she gets here.  Xander and I are going to go check on a colleague."

"Sure thing, Boss.  It'll be the first action I've had all night," Faith said as she slipped in.  "What exactly are me and the girls going against?"

Giles gave her a quick rundown and Xander wished the girls luck.  He didn't think they'd have a problem.  While there were several vampires and two massive demons, there were at least a dozen Slayers, some of them with several years experience.  They'd be fine.  Xander wasn't sure he'd be, left alone with Giles.

Rona gave Giles the keys to her car, and then they were gone.  Xander watched them head back toward the library, but Giles pulled around soon enough and it was time to lock himself in a confined space with an embarrassed librarian.  Joy of joys.

The silence was so thick Xander thought he might need a sledgehammer if he decided to break it.  Not that he had any idea how to do that.  'Hey, you remember down in the library basement when we kissed?  Yeah, that was nothing, just forget about it.'

He could have said that.  Giles would probably have been relieved to have it out in the open and brushed aside in the same instant.  There'd be a few nervous chuckles, but they'd never mention it again, ever.  Still, he couldn't do that.  Xander couldn't bring himself to say that he wasn't attracted to Giles, that he hadn't wanted to do just that earlier in the day.  Well, okay, most of the day.  It was stupid, and probably immature, but Xander just couldn't bring himself to lie that way.

"Xander, uh . . . About what happened . . ." Giles' voice was so quiet Xander had to strain to hear it over the soft 'swish' of the windshield wipers Giles couldn't figure out how to turn off.  Giles' eyes were firmly on the road.  He didn't even glance over at Xander.  "I didn't mean to, uh . . ."

"Just stop," Xander managed to squeeze out around the lump in his throat.  "This isn't going to go well, so let's just pretend in never happened and . . . and go see what happened to this Thompson guy, okay?"

"I don't think that's . . ." Giles sighed, pulling to a stop in front of house practically indistinguishable from its neighbors.  "Xander," he said, turning in his seat and looking Xander in the eye.  "We need to discuss this.  I . . . You're right that now isn't the time, but . . . Soon, all right?"

Xander just nodded, looking away from Giles and motioning toward the house.  "Is this it?"

"Yes.  He should be here: his car is."  Giles nodded to a blue mini parked in the driveway.

Giles led the way to the door and Xander kept back.  He wasn't even sure why he was there to begin with.  He probably could have insisted on going with the Slayers, but they hadn't needed his help.  Giles probably didn't, either.  Thompson was probably asleep and had turned the ringer off on his phone and Xander would get to stand around like an idiot while Giles and Thompson chatted like the old friends they probably were.

No one answered Giles' knock, or the one after.  If Thompson was asleep, he was a heavy sleeper.  The door was locked, but that didn't seem to deter Giles.  He pulled something out of his pocket and started poking around at the lock.

The house looked deserted.  Nothing was out of place, though.  They even found the book Giles had given Thompson laying on his desk, opened to the page about the convergence that would be happening over the next few days.

There were other books, ones Xander couldn't read, but it was obvious Giles could.  His forehead furrowed and he sat without even seeming to realize what he'd done.

"This isn't right," he said, but it was probably mostly to himself.

Xander decided to check the other rooms while Giles was absorbed in books.  Everything else seemed in place, not that Xander would have known if whole rooms had been re-arranged, but a demon that broke into your house a re-arranged your furniture probably wasn't something to be too worried about.

There was only the basement left to check.  Xander hesitated at the door and then rolled his eyes at himself.  Yeah, now was the perfect time to develop a basement phobia, never mind that the basement of his high school had had a Hellmouth in it.

The light switch was easy to find, but Xander took one look down the stairs and hurriedly closed the door.  He took in a slow breath and then let it out before he opened the door a crack and peeked to make sure he'd seen what he'd thought he'd seen.

_Yup.  Several dead demons just like the two that attacked us._   Xander shut the door and went to get Giles.

"Uh, Giles?  Not that I'm questioning this Thompson's guys loyalties or anything, but . . . Should a Watcher have dead demons in their basement?"

"No," Giles said, his voice hard, though he'd barely looked up from what he was reading.  "He also shouldn't have several powerful rituals all designed to control demons or vampires."

"Oh . . . Right.  So, is he bad, or is he just researching said baddie?"

Giles sighed, removing his glasses with a gesture that was both sad and tired.  He rubbed at his eyes and then looked up at Xander.  "No, research is hit and miss.  How many times have we had every book relevant to a situation just sitting in my collection?  This is . . . it's too methodical for someone who didn't know what the end point would be.  I'm afraid Thompson might be the one who sent those demons after us."

"But . . . Why?  I mean, is he, like, next in line for your job or . . ."

"No.  I don't know why," Giles said, though he still seemed more interested in the books.  Xander couldn't blame him, there; those books were probably their best clue as to what this guy was up to.

"If he's controlling these things, what's up with the dead demons in the basement?"  Xander busied himself looking over the bookshelves.  He felt pretty useless.  Giles was doing all the important stuff while Xander stood around asking stupid questions.

"These spells have never been particularly effective.  He's probably been working for months to gather the force we saw tonight."

"So why tonight?"  Xander turned to Giles as he asked the question and his and Giles' gazes both seemed to fall on the book Giles had shown Thompson just that morning.

"The convergence," they said together, though Giles was the one to continue.  "I told him to look into it.  He knew I'd check up on him.  I'd know if he'd lied.  Damn.  He sent the vampires to make sure I didn't tell anyone else.  Bugger it all!"  Giles slammed shut the book he'd been reading.  "We have to find him.  Now."

"Why?  What's this convergence going to do?  It's not just tonight, right?  So don't we have time?"

"I doubt it.  He's been planning for a while.  I'd rather not leave him at it much longer."  Giles' mouth was pressed into a tight line and Xander knew he probably shouldn't be thinking about kissing it.  No, there was a dangerous rogue Watcher out there.

"What's it look like he's doing?"

"I don't know.  This convergence is powerful.  If he's figured out a way to harness it . . . There are several things he could do, and none of them is pleasant."  Giles snatched up a few of the books and headed out, Xander following close behind.

"All right, so . . . Where?"

Giles stopped and looked over his shoulder, his forehead furrowed.  "What?"

"Well, okay, I didn't get high grades in, well, anything, but eclipses and stuff . . . Most of them can't be seen everywhere.  Or, there's a place where they can be seen better than . . . Is this a stupid question?"

"No," Giles said, his eyes going distance.  "No, not at all."

"Oh.  Good."  Xander grinned, slipping the keys to Rona's car out of Giles' hand.  If his fingers brushed Giles' as he did, well, Giles would just write it off as an accident.  "I'll drive.  You think."

Giles didn't object, even though he knew Xander didn't know his way around all that well.  It might have been that Giles was just too caught up in his thoughts to think about it, but Xander chose to see it as Giles trusting him not to screw up.

Giles stayed thoughtful and Xander didn't want to disturb him, so he headed back to the dormitory.  He knew how to get there from where they were, after all.  The drive was long enough that the silence started to get to Xander, but he didn't turn on the radio, didn't even fidget all that much.

"Turn here," Giles said.

Xander was already turning when his mouth finally caught up to his brain enough to ask, "Why?"

"There's an open field not far from here.  The Council uses it, occasionally, and I recall Thompson mentioning it."

"Right.  So, we're going after a guy who has a small army of demons, without backup.  Oh, this is a good plan.  I can feel it."

"There's a picnic area.  There'll be a payphone there we can use to call the others."

"You know, we really need to get cell phones."

"Not you, too," Giles said, though Xander thought his sigh was a bit exaggerated.

"Well, they'd be pretty helpful right about now."

"Xander, you're suggesting we put mobiles in the hands of more than three thousand, and counting, teenaged girls.  I don't think the Council has the resources."

Xander snorted, glancing over at Giles.  There was a small smile on Giles' face and Xander felt absurdly proud of that, even though it wasn't really his doing.  Giles pointed to the picnic area and Xander pulled up to it.  They had a fairly good view of the field from there, but Xander didn't see any sign of this Thompson guy, or anybody else.  Giles went to the phone, calling the dorm.  Xander heard him fill Faith in on what was going down, heard him tell her to hurry.  Whatever those possible spells were, they seemed to really be freaking Giles out.

"Okay, while we've got time to kill," Xander began, stopping when he saw Giles' back stiffen.  "Er, I . . . wanted to know what those spells were.  What Thompson might be able to do?"

"Oh.  Yes, right."  Giles took a moment to turn around.  "There are several possibilities.  The worst of which is . . . Well, something like an apocalypse."

"Wait, what?"  Xander had been about to sit down on the edge of one of the picnic tables, but he froze at the word 'apocalypse.'  "Another one?  Hasn't the world almost ended enough for one century?"

"It's the most remote of the possibilities, but . . ." Giles shrugged, taking a seat on the picnic table's bench.  "There is a chance that's what he's after."

"Great."  Xander shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around this, again.  "So, why weren't there any signs?"

"That's why it's only something like an apocalypse.  An Apocalypse is . . . fixed.  It either happens or it doesn't.  If Thompson manages to open a door wide enough . . . Well, it would be the end of our world.  Something new would exist, but it wouldn't be the world we know.  And . . . We probably wouldn't survive to see it."

"This just gets better and better."  Xander sat, staring out into the darkness and wondering if Thompson were right there, just over that hill or behind those trees.  Could he see them?  Xander scanned area and froze.  "Oh, shit.  Giles?  What if he finds out we're here?"

"How would he find that out?" Giles asked, though his tone was distant and Xander thought he'd probably gone back to thinking.

"Well, he could have seen our headlights or . . . those guys could have."

Giles' head snapped up.  Xander nodded toward the five or so vampires walking toward them.  They didn't seem to be in any hurry, which was, as far as Xander knew, never a good sign.  Xander stood up at the same time Giles did, both of them backing up.

"Get in the car," Giles said.  Despite how softly he'd said it, Xander was pretty sure the vampires had heard it, too.  They rushed and Xander scrambled to pull out his stake before the vampires were on them.

Two of them grabbed for Xander, but he managed to trip one of them, sending it careening into the other.  But they were much faster and they were back on their feet in far too little time.  Xander kept backing toward the car.  Not only would it provide much needed shelter, but Xander planned to run the bastards over.

"Bugger."  Xander didn't dare glance over to see what had happened.  It wasn't a shout of pain, or fear, so Giles was okay.  At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

Then he smacked back first into the line of vampires behind him, and he knew why Giles had cursed.  Xander shouted, kicking and lashing out with the stake.  He caught one vampire in the throat and it went down, but didn't dust.

Then something hit the back of his head, and the world went black.

\-----

". . . not terribly effective, your spells.  I had to choose the dumbest of the lot for them to work at all.  Even then, it took practice.  Lots of practice."

Xander didn't know who was talking, but considering the tight lump of pain in his head, he was pretty glad he was there to listen.

"Just let Xander go," Giles' voice.  He didn't sound all that worried, actually.  "He can't offer you anything.  There's no reason to keep him here."

"Right, let your friend go so he can go warn the Slayers.  Rupert, you should know better.  I'm hardly a fool, after all."

Xander worked to get his eye open, despite the pain in his head.  He wasn't tied or blindfolded, but there were vampires standing all around him.  And Giles.  Giles was kneeling next to him.  Xander followed Giles' line of sight and saw . . . Was that Thompson?

The man was seventy, easily.  He was about Buffy's height, but bald and paunchy.  He looked like a kindly old man.  Of course, since he was dressed in blood red robes and holding a long, curved knife, the illusion was pretty much shattered.

There was a table nearby, set up with things Xander probably didn't want to know about.  On it was a single taper candle, just as red as the robes Thompson was wearing.

"Where is he going to go?  Your 'minions' tore out most of the car's insides.  I hope you realize you're going to have a very angry Slayer after you for that."  Giles said the last to the vampire on his right.  The thing just stared blankly at him and Xander wondered if that was the control, or the fact that Thompson had apparently chosen some very stupid vampires.

"Oh, your Slayers aren't going to be doing much of anything soon."  Thompson laughed just like a kindly old man.  There was no cackle, nothing implicitly evil in the sound.  That pretty much freaked Xander out all the more.  In fact, surrounded by vampires while lying on cold ground, with his cheek pressed against colder grass and his head pounding, Xander felt pretty well freaked.

"Xander?" Giles' voice was close, but he'd moved into Xander's blind spot.  Xander would have to turn if he was going to see him.  "Don't worry.  You'll wake up soon, and then we'll get out of here."

For a heartbeat, Xander thought Giles didn't actually know that he was awake.  Then Giles shifted a little, just into Xander's field of vision, and looked right at him.  He could see that Xander's eye was open, had to be able to tell.

Giles winked, slow and deliberate, and Xander got the idea.  Stay unconscious.  Well, pretend he'd stayed unconscious.  He closed his eye, just to let Giles know that he'd taken the hint.

Then the chanting started.  Xander couldn't help but look.  Thompson had turned his back and was holding the knife over the candle flame.  His voice sounded different now.  It filled the space around them, made the air vibrate and tingle against Xander's skin.  Like ants marching over him.

Then Giles moved, fast.  Xander wanted to look, wanted to see what Giles was doing, but he had to pretend he hadn't woken up.  The vampires moved around him.  He watched their legs fly by and, when he thought the last one had gone, he turned his head enough to see them chasing Giles.

Chasing Giles away from Thompson.  Oh, just great.  Xander checked around him with a quick glance, but there wasn't anyone else left to grab him.  There would be, if he waited long enough.  Those vampires were going to catch Giles sooner or later, and when they did . . .

Forcing himself to not think about that, Xander climbed to his feet.  The world spun, but he didn't let that stop him.  His head was pounding, but Xander kept his gaze on Thompson, who seemed oblivious to everything.

_No, there really was no upside to dumb magically-controlled vampire servants._   Xander tackled Thompson.  Well, he lurched close enough and then grabbed him and let them both fall together.

Thompson dropped the knife as he fell, but he turned on Xander, kicking and punching with all his strength.  Which, okay, wasn't much, thankfully, but Xander was in a hurry to deal with the guy and get to Giles before those vampires decided it was just easier to eat him.

Xander grabbed the robe, tearing it.  Thompson kept fighting, muttering something under his breath, but Xander had a hold on him and he wasn't letting go.

The robe tore free under Xander's hands.  He grabbed at Thompson's wrist next, eventually managing to get them both tied behind the squirming man.

"This isn't over," Thompson said.  Xander was just about to reply that it looked pretty over to him when the fog rolled in.  Thompson started laughing and Xander realize that he'd been muttering a spell.  As spells went, Xander would take fog any day.

Xander almost got his fingers bitten as he gagged the man.  The fog was everywhere.  It fell in thick blankets over the clearing and only the flame of the candle, still burning, told Xander he wasn't somewhere else entirely.

He could hear shouting now, farther off, but he couldn't make out the voices, or even how far away they were.  Damn it.  He had to get to Giles.  There was no way he could take all those vampires by himself.  Okay, there wasn't much chance of them managing it together, either, but . . .

Xander stumbled in the direction he thought Giles had gone.  The fog didn't seem as bad if he was moving, but he didn't know if that were really true.  Maybe it was just another way to make people get lost in the stuff.

He tripped over something, righted himself and then looked back to see what it was.  A vampire lay on the ground with a very large wound in its stomach, large enough that it wasn't getting up.  Xander didn't waste any time in staking it.

"Wow.  Go Giles," he muttered as he stood.

"Go me?"  Giles' voice was nearby and for that split second before he recognized it, Xander thought it was another vampire.  He whirled around, only to find Giles smiling at him.  "I didn't do it."

"You didn't?" Xander looked back to the ground, as if he actually expected to see the vampire still laying there.

"Faith and the others," Giles nodded off to one side and if Xander listened he almost thought he could tell that that was where the shouting was coming from.  "They've got that lot well in hand."

"Oh."  Xander turned back to Giles.  "Thompson's tied up and gagged on top of the hill.  That stops the ritual, right?  It's over?"

"Yes, it does."  They were standing fairly close.  Xander doubted they'd be able to see one another, otherwise.

"So . . . We did it?" Xander wasn't sure what else to say.  They still needed to talk, or at least Giles seemed intent that they should, but Xander didn't really want to do anything other than kiss him again, especially when Giles was smiling that way.

"We did."  Giles' eyes slipped down to his lips and Xander knew he wasn't imagining it.  Not when Giles gave them such a lingering look.  Giles moved first, but at the first hint that he was welcome, Xander was moving too.

The kiss wasn't the same.  It wasn't as hard, but it was just as desperate.  Xander groaned when Giles nibbled along his lips.  His hands moved to Giles' chest of their own volition.  Giles pressed their bodies together, his tongue pushing inside.  Xander parted his lips eagerly, sliding his hands down to brush the bottom of Giles' kinda grimy shirt.

Giles' mouth was firmer than he'd expected, and there was the scratch of stubble as one of his hands reached up to cup Giles' cheek.  The kiss had turned slower, hotter and Xander didn't think he could actually let go if he tried.

Giles hands were warm where the ground had chilled him, and Xander pressed his back into those hands, groaning again as Giles moved to kiss down his jaw.

"Where are they?"  Rona's voice sounded very close.

"I don't know.  Mr. Giles was here just a minute ago."  Charlain's sounded even closer.

"Damn it."  Giles voice was almost a growl and Xander shuddered as Giles pulled away.  Unsure what to make of that, Xander started to ask, but the Slayers appeared in the fog and seemed to actually see them.

"Hey, guys!  We've been looking for you.  Some of the vampires got away in the fog, but I think we got most of them."  Rona clapped Giles and Xander on their arms.  "Long night, huh?"

"It's not entirely over yet," Giles said with a sigh.  "The danger's passed, but we need to find the rest of those vampires.  The spells Thompson used are unstable.  Without him controlling them . . . I don't know what they'll do."

"Great," Xander muttered, wondering how long that would take.  Dawn was already closing in.  The vampires would probably go to ground and the only thing holding him up was adrenaline.  "Plus, I guess we need to put Thompson somewhere."

Giles nodded, flashing him a look that promised they'd talk later.  Xander wasn't sure if he should be looking forward to that or not.  At least he wasn't as sure it would be a bad thing as he had been a few hours earlier.

"Uh, Rona?" Xander said, "How attached were you to that car?"

\-----

Rona took Xander back to Giles' house.  Giles promised he'd be there to take over the sleep watch, since Xander most definitely had a concussion, but dawn came and went.  Most of the morning came and went, actually.  Giles finally stumbled in around lunch time and Xander didn't insist they talk then and there.  Not with Giles unshaven and exhausted.  Instead, Giles stumbled to his own bed and Xander spent the day listening to Rona complain about how many repairs her car was going to need.

She left just before dinner.  Xander hated how quiet Giles' apartment was, but he kept the TV volume low, let Giles get in as much sleep as he could.  The night had, by all accounts, been rough.  Faith stopped by to check on them both, but she left soon after.  Something about a hot date.  Xander told her he hoped to have one, too, but she didn't look like she believe him.  Of course, he didn't tell her that he was hoping it would be with Giles.

"I wonder if she'd have found that more or less believable?" Xander said, tilting his head back on the couch and trying not to put pressure on his bump.

"Who would find what believable?"  Giles' voice was hazy with sleep and Xander turned his head to find Giles just coming out of his bedroom.  He stumbled into the kitchen to put a tea kettle on.

"Nothing.  Just talking to myself, since you were all Mr. Sleepy-head."

"I think I can be excused," Giles said with a snort.  Xander went into the kitchen.  It was bigger than the one Giles had had in Sunnydale, which was kind of a bad thing, since Xander had no excuse to get close to Giles.  Instead, he leaned on the fridge, watching Giles make his tea.

"No excuses needed," Xander said with a grin.  "I'm all for slacking and sleeping the afternoon away."  Giles rolled his eyes and shook his head, but there wasn't any annoyance in the action.  In fact, there was a little bit of a smile on Giles' face.

"Giles?  I kinda want to stay in London."  Xander hadn't meant to just blurt it out that way.  He had a whole speech planned about how he'd decided not to back to Africa, or anywhere else.

"Why?"  It sounded like the stupidest question Xander had ever heard, but it seemed to matter to Giles.

"Well, there's less desert and . . . You're here, so . . ."

"Then it's just because I’m here?"  It seemed like a damn good reason to Xander, but Giles didn't look as if he liked it.

"Not really."  Xander shrugged, reaching out take the kettle off of the stove as it started to whistle.  His shoulder brushed Giles' chest.  "I pretty much wanted to stay here when I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with me, so it's not just about you.  If that's the problem, well . . . Problem solved."  Then a thought occurred and Xander froze.  "Unless you _don't_ want anything to do with me, in which case, problem.  I'm kinda pro us having stuff to do with each other.  Which, okay, sounded better in my head, and why can I suddenly not form a coherent sentence?"

Giles opened his mouth, but Xander was too afraid of what he would say to let it happen.

"Besides, you did kiss me last night.  Twice.  I would have written the first one off because, well, mortal danger.  And, yeah, the second one may kinda sorta fall in that category, too, but twice in one night and I've gotta assume you like me.  Or, ya know, at least like kissing me."

Xander was going to keep babbling.  He knew it.  He knew he should stop, too, but his mouth just opened up and--Giles put his fingers against Xander's lips and the babble disappeared.

"Both, actually."  Giles was smiling, but he sounded hesitant, not something Xander was at all in favor of.  "But you have a chance to see the world, Xander.  And it's . . . I'm comfortable here, but you--"

Xander reached up and pushed Giles' hand out of the way.  "Don't care," Xander laughed.  "I'll see it all on vacations.  That’s something you need more of, anyway."

Giles shook his head, but his smile had widened.  "Well, if I can't talk you out of it . . ."

"Nope.  Not even worth trying."  Xander grinned, inching forward.  Giles met him halfway.  Xander let his hands slip up under Giles' pajama shirt, moaned when Giles nibbled his lips and licked along them.  Then the kiss deepened and Giles was the one groaning.  Their tongues slipped along one another, Giles' fingers curling around the waistband of Xander's jeans, pulling their bodies close.

Giles' skin was warm from sleep and the hair on his belly and chest tickled Xander's palms.  It was a new sensation, but one Xander already knew he really liked.  Giles' hands slid up his back, kneading, and Xander was panting by the time they both pulled away.

"Bhuh?"  The voice was feminine.  Xander and Giles froze rather than jumping apart, both of them turning to look toward the backdoor.  The backdoor where Buffy, Willow and Dawn stood with bits of luggage.

"Wow," Dawn said and her tone made Xander even more self-conscious.  As if having three girls staring at him while he kissed Giles wasn't already pretty high up there on the self-conscious meter.

Xander felt his throat tighten.  His hands were still underneath Giles' shirt and he was almost afraid to move them, afraid that might draw the girl's attention.

"Oh dear," Giles said, though Xander thought he probably wanted to say something less nice.  Xander was certainly getting close to 'fuck' territory.  And rerunning that sentence through is mind made his brain momentarily short-circuit.

"We just, uh, thought . . ." Willow looked from Giles to him and back again, her eyes wide as really round things.

"We thought it might be nice for all of us to be here at the same time, but . . ." Buffy motioned to the two of them and then let her hand fall limply back to her side.  "If you two want to be alone . . ."

"No, Buff, it's not like that--" Xander began, just as Giles was saying, "Uh, perhaps just ten or so minutes?"

Buffy just stared, but Willow nodded, very quickly, and tugged Buffy's and Dawn's arms until she could close the backdoor.

"Oh, holy crap," Xander moaned.  Then Giles' hands were on his face, turning it so they were looking at one another.

"They'll adjust."

Xander opened his mouth, but for once his brain didn't even supply babble: between Giles' hands on his face and the memory of Willow's and Buffy's and, worst of all, Dawn's expressions . . .

"Besides, you weren't planning on keeping me a secret, were you?"  Giles smiled at that, leaning in and brushing his lips over Xander's.  Somehow, that made everything seem a bit less daunting.

"Well, maybe," Xander finally said, smiling as he rested his head on Giles' shoulder.  "I could make that work, with a large enough supply of books."

Giles chuckled right next to Xander's ear.  It was strange to hear that low, husky sound and to feel it making Giles' chest vibrate.  Strange, but really, really good.

"We should let them in," Xander eventually said.  "Man, and I thought I was going to get lucky tonight."  He'd only meant it as a joke, really, but then Giles kissed the side of his neck and his voice was all husky when he spoke.

"We'll get the girls a motel room."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Male character they want paired with Giles: Xander  
> Things they want in the fic: a library other than the one at Sunnydale High; kissing; a first-aid kit.  
> Things they *don't* want in the fic: "G-man" or anything similar; massive angst.


End file.
